Snow Leopard Commando Unit (China)

The Snow Leopard Commando Unit is a special police unit of the People’s Republic of China under the People’s Armed Police, tasked with counter-terrorism, riot control, and other special tasks such as anti-hijacking, and bomb disposal. The SLCU, along with the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau’s Beijing SWAT unit, was tasked with many of the security responsibilities of the 2008 Summer

Olympics. Officially, the SLCU is known to be as the 3rd Group, 13th Detachment, People’s Armed Police Beijing General Corp. After its secret establishment in October 2002, the SWCU unit had been trained out of the public eye for five years. The SWCU and the Beijing SWAT

unit were unveiled in a demonstration at the Beijing Police Academy on April 27, 2006 as part of a public relations effort to illustrate the capabilities of the People’s Armed Police to deal with terrorism, protection of delegates, and to enforce law and order in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The SLCU had participated in anti-terrorist exercises with Russia on September 4, 2007 known as “Cooperation-2007.” The unit had undergone a name change from its first name, now known officially as the Snow Leopard Commando Unit. According to Qu Liangfeng, a senior PAP officer in charge of the daily operations

of SLCU, he said the name change was “inspired by the story of a brave and cunning snow leopard, which escaped an ambush by a hunter and his eight hunting dogs”. Only officers who have served in the People’s Armed Police for a period of 1 to 2 years are eligible to apply, after which they will be put through a process of interviews, physical and psychological tests. The current average age (as of

2006) of SLCU officers is 22 years, as most of them entered the unit when they were about 18, thus making them amongst the youngest in the counter-terrorism community. The officers who are eventually selected for the course go through an arduous period of physical training, driving lessons for various vehicles, and weapons training. Their physical training includes 200 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 100 squats, lifting barbells 200 times and carrying a 35 kg

then assigned to the Beijing General Corps’ 13th Detachment, where the SLCU is based. The SLCU was shown in the demonstrations armed with the QBZ-95 series of rifles and QSZ-92 pistols, but they will most probably also be armed with a wide variety of submachine guns and other firearms. The unit has spent about CNY 2 million in domestically manufactured armored personnel carriers for riot-control and has also imported CNY 4 million worth of American manufactured vehicles and equipment. Each SLCU operator is estimated to be outfitted with CNY 300,000 (approximately US$ 39,000) worth of equipment, including their body armor, communications equipment, etc. The former Snow Wolf name was bestowed on the unit because of the known tenacity of arctic wolves and their ability to both survive and thrive in extremely harsh conditions.